Missing woman may have left island

A 22-year-old woman reported missing by police last week may have left the island.

Police sent out a press release to local media May 16 asking for help locating Sahira Wong Quintero, a Cuban national. Police said at the time that they received the report on May 13 that Ms. Quintero was last seen two days earlier at the Treasure Island hotel with a female friend.

Contacted over social media, she told the Cayman Compass that her friends knew she was leaving.

Police say she called and spoke with an officer, but they are not completely convinced.

Ms. Quintero, who had been working at a Cayman bar, contacted police after speaking with the newspaper. Police confirmed they had spoken with her, but she “stopped short of saying where she was,” according to police spokesman Adrian Seales.

Police commissioner David Baines said police checked with airlines and immigration and did not find a record of her leaving the island.

“Follow-up enquiries suggested that she may have left the island via alternative means without any fear or threat,” he wrote in an email, adding, “We have had no visual or direct evidence that the person using the phone and Facebook is the one and the same person we are seeking.”

News from the three-sentence press release spread across Cayman’s media, including in this newspaper. A message on Facebook prompted a reply from Ms. Quintero’s account that she was fine and in Miami. She said she had told her friends in Cayman that she would be off island for a time.

She gave conflicting accounts to the newspaper about where she is now and whether she plans to return to Cayman.

Ms. Quintero said she told her friend goodbye before leaving Treasure Island that night. “I don’t know why this happened,” she said over Facebook chat.